Last weekend, the 22nd and 23rd of April, my good friend and I took a two day trip down the Upper Cloquet from the Bear Lake Road put-in to Island Lake, about a 25 mile trip.  The water level was good(4.2 feet on the DNR website and 550 cfs out of Alden Lake), we had a stiff north wind that kept daytime temps in the 40's, but it was at our backs the whole way and we had a leisurely float.  We ran the first rapids, Buzz Ryan's, loaded and had a harder time than expected on this easy rapids.  Not wanting to take any chances in the ice cold water and cold air temperature, from then on we portaged all of our gear around the rapids and ran the canoe down empty.  Doing this, we had no problems running any of the other rapids and had dry gear waiting for us if we did happen to take a swim.  We did not see another person on the river the whole time we were out.  We camped Saturday night at Dr. Barney's Rapids and slept well even though the next morning we were brushing frost from our gear and breaking through ice in our water container.  We saw plenty of ducks, including numerous mallards and wood ducks, a few goldeneye's and a green wing teal.  A muskrat swam beside us for a little ways downstream of Dr. Barney's.  Cedar, McCabes and Whitesides were particularily beautiful with the increased flow downstream of the confluence of the Little Cloquet River.  All and all it was a fantastic trip and I can't wait to be out there again.